My town has been destroyed - gaming cancelled

[jonesy]

And after the game tonight talking to the gaming group - only one of us is not in the process of considering whether to leave. Scary stuff.

On a more relevant note - last week they had to flee from the Garden of Graves after two of the party members were killed by beetle swarms and had to be left behind. They may return later but right now they are back in the small town of Valeron in Thrane where they have just defeated rampaging Grell which were looking for the 'Tear of Knowledge'.

<< How to recognize a roleplayer.

"Scary stuff.. but here's what's going on in our campaign."

 

[Scott DeWar]

<< How to recognize a roleplayer.

"Scary stuff.. but on a more relevant note .. .. .. ..."

I saw that and had a big grin as I read it.

but back to real life for a moment. I went to the Canterbury sight and clicked on the list to the left of the map and noticed that there was a recurring location to the south west of Christchurch that seems to be of an alarming regularity. Please use discretion as to whether you stay or not.

 

[Rabbitbait]

Yeh, there are still about 5 or 6 quakes a day at the moment.

Yesterday was a big day - they announced the areas that will be abandoned which adds up to about 5000 houses. There is a river that runs through town, and it's almost every house near the river all the way into the central city.

But there are another 10,000 houses that they need to reassess, and all the houses in the hill subsurbs that have not been assessed yet because there hasn't been time after the earthquake last week that caused lots of the hill to fall away.

But an answer for 5000 houses at least - and the people interviewed were sad to leave but happy that they finally knew what was happening. Lots of those houses have been abandoned for a while now anyway.

quakeland-cs3

 

[Rabbitbait]

Whoops - let me clarify. It's not actually the houses that need to be abandoned - it's the land. The land is so severly damaged that it will not be able to be rebuilt on. In most cases those houses are destroyed anyway.

However the government has offered to buy those houses and land from the owners at the rate of the last Government valuation (which was done in 2007) and then the government will work with the insurance companies. In most cases this is pretty close to the pre-earthquake value so it's a pretty good deal - particularly as it means that the owners won't have to go through the miles of red tape that the insurance companies are throwing up.

We have discovered that the insurance you pay for in case of disaster becomes very difficult to access in the case of a major disaster. The insurance companies are doing everything they can to slow the process down.

 

[Rabbitbait]

... and noticed that there was a recurring location to the south west of Christchurch that seems to be of an alarming regularity. Please use discretion as to whether you stay or not.

Yep, that is one of the two main fault lines. That one goes right through the city. The other one is slightly to the west.

There are a couple of other fault lines - two of which go through the city in different places and one up north and out to sea - but not so far out that it would cause a Tsunami.

There's been a lot of surveying of what's going on underground over the last 9 months.

 

[Rabbitbait]

On a more relevant note - last week they had to flee from the Garden of Graves after two of the party members were killed by beetle swarms and had to be left behind. They may return later but right now they are back in the small town of Valeron in Thrane where they have just defeated rampaging Grell which were looking for the 'Tear of Knowledge'.

Bonus points for anyone who can name the two published adventures that I am using at the moment.

 

[jonesy]

Bonus points for anyone who can name the two published adventures that I am using at the moment.

Tomb of Horrors and something from Eberron (which I'm not that familiar with).

 

[Rabbitbait]

Tomb of Horrors and something from Eberron (which I'm not that familiar with).

Half right - it is Tomb of Horrors, but the other one is not in Eberron. My campaign is though - I've translated both adventures to fit.

 

[Rabbitbait]

Just thought I'd give an update. Its now two years later and the quakes have quietened down quite a bit. We've had over 11,000 now. The central city is still inaccessable and about 2/3 of the buildings have been demolished.Still quite a few still to go as well. We will be pretty much building a new city, but it will be magnificent. We have finally had an offer from our insurance company which we have accepted. It will take about 3 months for the money to arrive in our bank account. Lot's of people are coming into the region now as the rebuikd is beginning and there is a lot of work available. Its agood time to come to New Zealand if you have construction experience.Only ine of our gaming group ended up leaving, but he continues in the game by webcam. Still the same campaign as two years ago.

 

[Rabbitbait]

There is still a reasonable chance of another big quake, but to be honest anything that might get knocked down already has been.

Two years later, many of us are still in limbo waiting for life to get normal again. But there are so many plans which mean this city will be better than it ever was, and it was pretty good before. The comunity spirit is incredible, and it has been forged in adversity. I have lived in interesting times and it has given me a great appreciation for what I have. Thanks for listening.